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The old breed of Northamptonshire were large-bodied, large-boned, bristly animals, covered with white, coarse hair. Their legs were short and their ears very long, so much so as often to trail upon the ground. They were capable of being fattened to a considerable size, but not without great trouble and expense. These gave place to a lighter-made animal, equally large, but with small bones, small ears, and greater aptitude to fatten. The Bakewell Leicester pigs are highly esteemed by some of the breeders and farmers of this county.

This seems to have been only another variety of the Northamptonshire pigs; they are coarse, ungainly animals, with long heads, pendent ears, arched loins, large bones, flat sides, many bristles, and coarse wiry hair; they are brindled, or of a dirty white-gray, or drab color, with spots of black. They were capable of being fattened to a considerable size, and might be made at two years old to weigh 560 or 575 pounds; but to accomplish this an abundance of food was required. They are by no means adapted for farm stock; but brewers, distillers, and those who have large quantities of refuse wash and grains, hold them in some estimation. Latterly the breed has been very much improved, and rendered more profitable, by crossing it with the Berkshire, Chinese, and other esteemed breeds, under the influence of which the most salient and objectionable points have disappeared, and the animals are now short-legged, fine-haired, straight-backed, and thin-skinned, white in color, and weighing 200 pounds at two years old. Lord Forester of Willy Park, and Sir F. Lawly of Monkhopton, are in possession of the best breeds.

The old breed of this county were some of the largest swine in England, standing from three and a half to four and a half feet high. They were black and white, white, and blue and white; long-bodied, narrow-backed, slab-sided, large-boned, long-limbed animals, having large heads, drooping ears, of such a size as scarcely to permit them to see out of their eyes, and loose coarse-looking skins. Nevertheless they fatten to an enormous weight, and without consuming a comparatively larger amount of food than many of the much more esteemed English breeds. One excellent variety has been obtained by a cross with a Berkshire boar.

Of late years, however, the old Cheshire breed has almost entirely disappeared, and been replaced by a fine boned round-bodied